Govt takes 19 years to compensate flood victims
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday April 10, 2014 12:23
According to the Auditor General, Robby Sebopeng, 37 victims were paid P2,500 in the financial year ended March 31, 2013 a full 19 years after the natural disaster struck the flood prone region where the two settlements were located.
“While the occurrence of the disaster at that time may not be in doubt, it is nevertheless disheartening to note that relief measures to assist victims in distress from the impact of a disaster could be so delayed by as much as 18 years,” Sebopeng noted in his latest report released last week.
He noted that, “(So delayed) that those compensation payments no longer relate to the ravages of the disaster.”
Sebopeng questioned what the P2,500 in compensation catered for.
“I have not been able to obtain any explanation regarding the nature of compensations the payments related to,” he said.
Yesterday, Lentsweletau-Mmopane MP, Moeng Pheto, told Mmegi that the compensation came after President Ian Khama’s visit to the area a year ago.
“The president visited a year ago and the matter was raised by villagers,” he said.
“The Office of the President then decided that funds would be found so that the affected residents could finally receive compensation.”
While Pheto could not shed further light on the matter, Mmegi enquiries within the area have suggested that the affected Makabanyane and Thotayamarula residents were victims of failures at local authority level.
Sources close to the affair said early after the 1994 floods, funds had been availed for the victims but had not reached the intended beneficiaries due to maladministration.
“There are indications that the funds were made available but disappeared within the local authority and were thus not passed onto the intended beneficiaries,” said one source.
“The matter was further complicated by the relocation of residents to another area, Loologane settlement.
“Tracking the affected people was made more difficult and the funds eventually disappeared in the system,” the source further stated.
Residents of Makabanyane and Thotayamarula were relocated to Loologane in 2003 to be closer to amenities.
Their original settlement area also had soils prone to flooding.
“The residents were among the poorest in the district and they had been hit by floods before,” said another source.
The relocated residents were enrolled under the Remote Area Development programme and assisted with capital for livestock.